SMD wins LARS order from Orange Marine

Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) has won contracts to supply two solutions to marine telecommunications company Orange Marine Group.

SMD designed the new LARS systems to launch custom trenching ROVs for the burial of underwater fibre optic cables.

The solutions are an evolution of SMD’s Wide Angle A-Frame, creating a bespoke system to accommodate a high vessel freeboard, allowing the Orange Marine trenchers to operate in higher sea states.

Matthew Woodward, business development manager for handling systems at SMD, who has worked closely on the project, said;

“The most dangerous time for an ROV launch is as the vehicle is released from the A-Frame and enters the often rough ocean splash zone, and when it is being raised back onboard.

“SMD’s Wide Angle A-Frame has a greater outreach and working arc than that of a conventional A-Frame system.

According to Woodward, it minimises the air gap between the ROV and the water during launch, which reduces the pendulum effect caused by vessel motions on the vehicle.

Limiting these forces is important to avoid a clash between the ROV and vessel structure and not overstress the vehicle’s umbilical cable, he also noted.

“Ultimately this simple solution makes it much easier and safer for operators to launch and recover the vehicle without damage in high sea states.”

“For this project, we have worked very closely with the technical team at Orange Marine and discussed many options to arrive at this preferred solution.”